Users seek 'bath salts' high

Heather Nolan, Beth Rankin

Published 12:00 am, Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Photo: Beaumont

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Popular among teenagers, bath salts have become a quick and easy method of getting high. Sold for about $30 for a small container, the substance can be legally purchased at gas stations and its chemical makeup is untraceable on some drug tests.
Photo Illustration by Guiseppe Barranco less

Popular among teenagers, bath salts have become a quick and easy method of getting high. Sold for about $30 for a small container, the substance can be legally purchased at gas stations and its chemical makeup ... more

Photo: Beaumont

Users seek 'bath salts' high

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Bath salts apparently aren't being used just to make bath time more fun anymore.

Authorities are interested in reports that people are buying a version of the products marketed as "concentrated bath salts" not so much for their added relaxation, but instead to get high.

The fine powdered substance is sold in 500-milligram containers and is available locally for $29.99. It is sold behind the counter at some gas stations and head shops around Southeast Texas. It comes in screw-top jars about an inch high and an inch around.

Law enforcement officials and medical experts aren't sure exactly what's in the bath salts and the packages don't list any ingredients.

The ingredients in the product don't show up in drug tests, said Crystal Petry, the community

The Port Arthur Street Crimes Unit tested a sample for The Enterprise on Tuesday. The product didn't test positive for any of the substances commonly in cocaine, and officers noted that if a person gets pulled over and has bath salts on them, the police can't do anything. The product is legal.

Some of the products are said to give off a tranquil, calming feeling similar to marijuana, he added.

If the products contain purely what they say they do - salt - people wouldn't actually be getting high from the substance, Glenn said. Salt doesn't interact with the neurotransmitters in the brain that release extra dopamine, which leads to the euphoric part of being high, he explained.

So it is likely these bath salts, if they live up to their billing, are contaminated with another substance, Glenn said.

According to the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper, St. George's University in London analyzed a popular bath salt product, Ivory Wave, in 2009. The medical school hospital found it contained two ingredients that might imitate the effects of cocaine - methylene dioxy pyrrolidin ketone, or MDPV, and lidocaine.

MDPV is a powerful stimulant and lidocaine is a numbing agent, according to the newspaper.

The group found that people commonly ingest the MDPV-containing bath salts orally, rectally, by snorting, smoking or with an IV. The chemical is supposed to have stimulant-type effects and cause increased energy, sociability, mental stimulation or increased concentration and limited, if any, euphoria.

As people come down from their high, they could experience fatigue, nausea, muscle twitches, kidney pain, numbness or problems breathing, the Psychonaut WebMapping Research Group found. The substance also can cause severe anxiety attacks, suicidal thoughts and confusion, according to the group.

The United Kingdom recently banned MDPV, according to The Guardian. The chemical is active at extremely low doses - as low as 5 milligrams, as compared to around 100 milligrams for similar stimulants - so users easily can inadvertently overdose, according to the paper.

Most bath salts are labeled "not for human consumption" but the concentrated bath salts people are using for a high do not carry that warning.

Petry said if the bath salts used for getting high contain chemicals that should not be ingested, people might start sweating, feel nauseous or vomit. If the symptoms are severe enough, Petry said, they could lead to death.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Unit Commander Ron Hobbs wasn't familiar with the substance, but said in his experience, it hasn't been uncommon in the past for people to use legal products to get high.

If concentrated bath salts become a big problem locally, Hobbs said the narcotics unit will work with the sheriff's association and the police chief's association to try to get the Legislature to take action.